District 2 Commissioner Bob James, a long-time road builder, is seeking his second-term as a commissioner. James' challengers are Chris Elliott, a businessman involved in construction and real estate development, and Cody Phillips, a retired Army officer with more than 40 years of public service experience.

James said he has been involved in planning for the county's growth. He said the county has rewritten its subdivision regulations, and it's trying to get longer life cycles out of its roads.

"If we can get 18 years of a life cycle, instead 10 or 12, there's tremendous savings there," he said.

"We have done our watershed studies individually. Now we know what we need to... protect the waterways over a long period of time. We are trying to get those things implemented."

Elliott said growth is driving nearly all the challenges the commission is facing. He said a key to managing the growth will be making sure the planning and zoning departments for the county and the municipalities have collaborative relationships.

"We have go to look at our infrastructure long term," he said. "We've got to look at our schools long term and their needs. And we've got to look at what type of growth we want. We want it to be high quality growth that's done practically and done well."

Phillips said he, too, has experience dealing with growth from when he worked for the cities of Rock Hill, South Carolina, and Madison.

"Yes, it's a challenge to plan ahead of time for that growth and do it wisely," he said. "I think the biggest part of that is involving the people right up front with this. I believe in open communications. I just believe in having the citizens involved as much as possible at open meetings and getting their input on what's going on."

Here are some other issues the candidates discussed:

How do you view the level of professionalism and work relationship among the current commission members? What, if anything, can be done to improve the work environment?

Chris Elliott

"We've definitely got some different personalities on the commission. They... don't always get along. I think that it's important that there is an honest and frank discussion among the commissioners about what direction they particularly want to take the county in and how they want to solve the county's problem. It's very important to make sure that is a calm, cool and collected discussion and argument."

Bob James

"I think the fact they we are four different personalities all brings four very unique perspectives. I think that's constructive when we finally get to the end product. Yes, it can look ugly at times. The one thing I have enjoyed with my three colleagues is they get past the issue, and they move on and continue on to the next item of business. Overall, I think we've had very few issues that we were really passionate about."

Cody Phillips

"I have seen and worked for councils and so forth in the past and commissions who didn't get along. It makes the public feel that, 'Hey, our government's not working properly,' or there is a dysfunction here. It's OK to bring up an idea, but to argue in front of the public is not a good idea. But to discuss with some civility and then be able to say, 'Well, no, I don't agree with it,' is a different story. I am one to try to get along with everyone and listen to the ideas."

Based on your experiences or conversations, what's the county's relationship with the municipalities? If you think it needs to be improved, how should it be?

Chris Elliott

"The county's relationship with the municipalities differs depending on who you talk to, but, by in large, it needs improving. It needs significant improvement."

"Overall, we've got to improve that relationship so that we can look at more regional approaches to our problems. We can save the taxpayers' money by adopting these regional approaches as opposed to a go-at-it alone, and... we can get input from folks that may have a better idea than we do."

Bob James

"Normally, when the municipalities get upset is when we don't finance something they wanted to get done. The bottom line is we just don't have the money to do it. We have to set our priorities, and we have to live within our budgets. Overall, I think we have a very good relationship the municipalities. We do cooperate, collaborate on a lot of different issues."

Cody Phillips

"I think we can improve communications with the mayors. I think we just need to find out why they are not participating (in meetings) and answer questions for them. I have talked to one mayor down on the coast, and he's told me.. 'There's no communications going on between the county and our city.' My response to him was, 'Well, we've got to stop that. We need you involved, like we need every mayor involved in the situation.' It's not going to be easy, but we can do it."

Officials have started to discuss building a jail in south Baldwin County. Should a jail be built in the southern part of the county?

Cody Phillips

"I think we really need to look at that closely and see what kind of facility we want to build. Can we afford to build it? Can we partner with all the cities because if you just involve say Gulf Shores and Orange Beach and Summerdale then you are leaving out other cities like, Daphne, Robertsdale, Loxley and so forth who also have that same (overflow) problem. I am thinking we need to revisit that and say, 'Hey, can we get some support from other municipalities to help finance this and build us a central jail?'"

Chris Elliott

"My hat's off to those mayors that have collaborated on this, and, of course, with the sheriff who was... trying to make sure that we work as one county in trying to solve these growth issues that we have. That is one of the best examples of that type of collaboration and how we can work together to solve tough problems. I think that's going to be how they move forward with it."

Bob James

"The research I have seen on it right now is the county jail is in Bay Minette. At some point in the future, we will probably have to add another $25 to $35 million tower up there if the crowding comes. If they do another jail on the south end of the county, that may not even fall under the sheriff. That may just end up being a municipal jail. It all comes down to a question of who's going to pay for it."

The commission has had to deal with some controversial zoning issues, including the rezoning of land near Spanish Fort High School that Spanish Fort residents and city leaders were against. How should the county go about weighing the rights of property owners and the rights of nearby landowners?

Bob James

"It's always a struggle. You have just got to look at each situation individually – what's best for the community and balance that against private property rights."

Cody Phillips

"The involvement of zoning has to start with the people. If they are all in agreement to the zoning the ordinance, then you should abide by that. The problems come in when you have city ordinances that are next to unincorporated zoning areas."

"Personally... I think that a third party should have been involved with evaluating whether that was the best use of the property in Spanish Fort. You can apply that not only there but elsewhere in the county in other situations."

Chris Elliott

"The simply way to handle this, the only way to handle this is collaboration between county government and the municipalities that are located in that county. We are going to have work with the municipalities. It's something I have spent a lot of time talking to mayors around the county about – making sure our planning departments are talking to their planning departments and that we've got a good idea of where we are headed as a county."